Posted
by
samzenpus
on Monday December 28, 2009 @12:46PM
from the smoke-'em-while-you-got-them dept.

Officials on The Isle of Man have learned that the best way to fight crime isn't to take away freedom, it's to take away cigarettes. There has been a 14% drop in crime since the island opened Europe's only completely no smoking prison in August 2008. "It's a standing joke now that when we nick someone we remind them that if they get sent down they'll have to come off the cigarettes — their faces are a picture. It's like they are more scared about giving up smoking than a criminal record and some time in the nick," said a police source.

This is the worst "statistics" I've ever seen. ONE prison is no smoking and they attribute a drop in the crime rate to it?

WTF? Somebody needs to go back to class and this time, pay attention.

Here in Illinois ALL the prisons and jails are no-smoking, but our crime rate hasn't dropped. Has anyone considered that there just might be other factors involved in the Isle of Man's lowered crime rate? Because its "cause and effect" isn't working here!

Cigarettes are the currency of choice in most prisons... in a non-smoking system, what do they use? Or do I not want to know...

Charlie, Smack, Blow, Jellies...

If some trustee in the workshop has been imaginative, maybe even a bit of moonshine?

For the uninitiated, most prisons are hotbeds for illegal drugs, brought in by visitors and corrupt guards. The only item that competes is an illicit mobile phone or SIM card.(Don't bother complaining that this isn't how it "should" be ; deal with the fact that it is.